Female electric connector member



Oct. 13, 1964 K. J. BATCHELLER 3,152,856

FEMALE ELECTRIC CONNECTOR MEMBER Filed NOV. 13, 1962 JIZW/ZZ/ @ZJJMM/ MW ,of operations on a strip of brass or other metal.

United States Patent 3,152,856 FEMALE ELECTRIC CONNECTOR MEMBER Kent J. Batcheller, 30 Brush Hill Road, Newton, Mass. Filed Nov. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 236,955 2 Claims. (Cl. 339-258) This invention relates to improvements in a common type of electric connector member which ismade of brass sheet or strip stock and is in the form of a shallow channel having a floor, side walls, and inturned flanges on the side walls overhanging the side margins of the floor. The complemental connector member is usually in the form of a plane tongue which is inserted endwise in the channel, the width of the tongue being nearly equal to the width of the floor of the channel so that the margins of the tongue engage under the inturned flanges of the channel member. The channel connector member, which is the female member of a male-and-female type of connector, has been produced in a variety of modifications. The hereinafter described connector member embodies novel features which make it superior in some respects to prior connector members of the same type.

For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following description thereof, and to the drawing, of which-- FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a sheet metal blank from which a connector member embodying the invention is formed;

FIGURE 2 is a section, on a larger scale, on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the completed member;

FIGURE 4 is a section on the line 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a section on the line 55 of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 6 is a transverse sectional view of the assembled connector.

The connector member illustrated in FIGURE 3 is the female member of a male-and-female type of connector. It is preferably made from sheet brass supplied in strip form, the strip being subjected to successive operations until the members are either cut off from the end of the strip or are left attached to form a long series which can be fed to a machine for crimping them onto wires and severing them one by one from the series. FIGURE 1 shows a blank 10 which has been formed by a series The blank 10 comprises a rectangular portion 12 which is to be formed into a shallow channel, and an extension 14 which is-to be the wire-gripping portion of the finished member. This blank is connected by a neck 16 to a continuous ribbon 18 which is a side marginal portion of the original brass strip. Two transverse parallel cuts or slots20, 22 are made in the rectangular portion 12 of the blank, these being spaced from the ends thereof. Another cut 24 is made on the longitudinal median extending from one slot to the other and forming there the elfect of lengthening the flaps so that the ends 33 thereof extend up above the original level of the rectangle 12 and are in side-to-side contact as indicated in FIGURE 4. The swaging not only lengthens the fiaps 26, 28 but also widens them increasingly toward their ends so that their side edges become parallel and the slots 20, 22 become substantially uniform in width, as indicated in FIGURE 3. The slots 20, 22 are preferably wide enough so that there is no contact between the side edges of the flaps 26, 28 and the floor edges on the opposite sides of the slots.

The dies are preferably shaped so that the swaging operation will form a slight arcuate projection 34 at the mid point of the end edge of each flap which is otherwise straight, the corners being rounded 01f as at 35. These projections are adapted to enter a recess 36 in the male connector member 38 when it is assembled with the female member.

The next step is to bend the side margins of the rectangle 12 up and over to form side walls 40, 42 with inturned flanges 44, 46 overhanging side margins of the residual portion of the rectangle 12 which is the floor of the shallow channel formed by the side walls 40, 42.,

The swaging operation which flattens, and shapes the flaps in the floor of the connector member also hardens the metal in the flaps, making them more stiflly resilient. The connector member is designed to be as sembled with a male member 38 which is thicker than the vertical distance between the levels of the end edges with two flaps 26, 28. The next step is to swage the tions of the flaps curve upward. The swaging also has 33 of the flaps and the under faces of the flanges 44, 46. The member 38 will thus depress the ends 33 of the flaps when it enters the channel between the side walls 40, 42. The ends 33 will rub strongly on the under side of the member 38 asit moves in and will tend to clean a portion of the under side by rubbing oif dirt or oxidation. Bright, clean interfacial contact surfaces increase the electrical conductivity of the assembled connector.

I claim:

1. A connector member of sheet metal in the form of a shallow channel having a floor, side walls, and inturned flanges on said side walls overhanging the side margins of the floor, said floor having two rectangular flaps extending toward each other from junctions with the side margins of the floor, said flaps tapering in thickness from said junctions to the free ends thereof and curving from the junctions downward then upward so that the free ends are in side-to-side contact at a level above the floor but below the under sides of said flanges.

2.'A connector member as described in claim 1, the end edges of said flaps being straight except for a small arcuate projection on each edge at its mid point adapted to enter a recess in the face of a male connector member.

Davis June 6, 1961 

1. A CONNECTOR MEMBER OF SHEET METAL IN THE FORM OF A SHALLOW CHANNEL HAVING A FLOOR, SIDE WALLS, AND INTURNED FLANGES ON SAID SIDE WALLS OVERHANGING THE SIDE MARGINS OF THE FLOOR, SAID FLOOR HAVING TWO RECTANGULAR FLAPS EXTENDING TOWARD EACH OTHER FROM JUNCTIONS WITH THE SIDE MARGINS OF THE FLOOR, SAID FLAPS TAPERING IN THICKNESS FROM SAID JUNCTIONS TO THE FREE ENDS THEREOF AND CURVING FROM THE JUNCTIONS DOWNWARD THEN UPWARD SO THAT THE FREE ENDS ARE IN SIDE-TO-SIDE CONTACT AT A LEVEL ABOVE THE FLOOR BUT BELOW THE UNDER SIDES OF SAID FLANGES. 